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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Pete the Cat is one of my favorite book characters and I was really excited to host a Pete the Cat party at my library! This was an event where everyone who registered showed up (which NEVER happens).

We started off by reading Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin. I chose these two stories as the crafts and activities all centered around these books.

After the stories, I opened up our 4 stations. Everybody got to do everything, but it helps congestion to spread the kids out. At our first station, we made these awesome Pete the Cat headbands.

At our second station, we made Pete the Cat out of shapes.

At our third station, we added numbered button stickers to our yellow shirts.

Playtime-BubblesDepending on the day, we spend 5-10 minutes playing with bubbles. I use a bubble stick to blow the bubbles and the toddlers pop them. Many of my first time parents and caregivers are amazed by the bubble stick and are stopping by their local Target to pick up their own to use at home.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Last week was Spring Break in Michigan. For us, this means that our library will be extremely busy. While it wasn't originally planned, we also ended up with low staff last week. This makes passive programming ideal for this type of week. When choosing what to do, we look for a theme where we can switch out activities daily. We WANT to be a destination spot for those who are having staycations and by having different activities, it is possible that the same people will come back multiple times. This year we chose the theme of Lego Week. Here's the glitch-since we were running this program at multiple locations at the same time, it was not a Lego building program. We needed to find activities that were fun enough that the kids would still want to do them.Day 1-Roll a Lego MinifigureThis activity was based on a game that we found online. We simplified the rolling and put out laminated Lego minifigure shape parts (heads, hands, etc.). We used large dice that I purchased from Oriental Trading as that way they don't disappear as fast.

Day 2-Design Your Own Lego MinifigureFor this station, we precut a bunch of Lego minifigure parts out of construction paper and added glue and crayons. Kids glued their creation together.

Day 3-Lego MemoryWe printed off multiple sets of Lego matching cards and put them in plastic baggies so families could take a set and play with it in the Children's Room.

Day 4-Lego MasksI have a pattern for masks that I originally got from the Lego Minifigure web site, but they are no longer there. If you go to this site and scroll about halfway down, you will find them. We ran our patterns on yellow cardstock and had kids cut out their shapes. We provided craft sticks that already had a glue dot at one end so kids could just stick their mask onto the stick.Day 5-Coloring SheetsFor the fifth day, we put out a couple of Lego coloring sheets that we found online.Wrap-UpThe week was extremely popular, despite having no Legos out to build with. On the two craft days, we easily had 100+ kids making the crafts (when we planned for 50). While the other days had lower numbers, I liked that they promoted family interaction with the games. We're already on to planning our next possible passive programming week (hint-Darth Vader).

Thursday, April 9, 2015

I love to put together new themes for our Play to Learn program, but have been lacking time lately. That's why I am super excited to show off our new one on We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. This title is extra special as it is also one of our 100 Books to Read Before Kindergarten.

If you are
unfamiliar with our Play to Learn program, it is a station-based early
literacy program where children and parents can interact together. It
is not librarian-driven. While I create the stations and set everything
up, I am not in front of the room reading the story or telling people
what to do. They can spend as long or as little as they want at a
particular station. Each station has a sign that explains the activity
and why that activity is important to early literacy. By running this
type of program, we hope to give parents the tools to take home and use
with their children.

We register 20
kids, ages 2-4, for each session of Play to Learn and we open the room
up for one hour. If it is a really popular program, we will register
additional kids and start them 30 minutes into the program. We want
each parent and child to be able to spend time at each station and you
can't do that in a crowded room. Station 1: Make a NametagI used an AccuCut die to cut brown bears to use as nametags. The kids then can then write their name on it. To help those kids who are not quite
ready to write their name, I type out all of the first names in list
form so they can see the letters. At this
station, as you may have guessed, we are working on the writing skill.

Station 2: Read the BookSince we are a
library, I feel that the book is the most important part of the
program. I pull just about every copy from all of our locations that I
can get and we put them out for parents to read to their child. At this station children are
practicing reading, which encourages them to learn how to read on their
own. By sharing reading with their child, parents are helping them to
develop vocabulary and comprehension, nurturing a love of reading, and
motivating their child to want to learn to read.

Station 3: Flannelboard Now
that the kids (and parents!) have read the story, they can retell it in
their own words at the flannelboard.

Station 4: Make a Book

I couldn't think of anything clever to come up with on my own so I went online. Making Learning Fun
has a printable book. I think it is important for the kids to make and
take home some type of book in this program.

Station 5: Make a Teddy Bear Puppet

I used die cut shapes, sticker eyes, crayons, glue dots, and craft sticks to make teddy bear puppets. To make things easier on the kid, the glue dots were attached to the craft sticks ahead of time.

I also provided the words to The Bear Went Over the Mountain for kids to sing and act out with their puppets. Since songs slow down language, the children can hear the different sounds in words and learn new words.

Station 6: Make a Map

I put out various parts so kids could create their own maps. I included crayons and these awesome mini stampers.

After the kids created their maps, we talked about what they added. Plus, it was always fun screaming when we got to the bear.

Station 7: B is for Bear

I drew a bear cave on our giant whiteboard. Then I created various pictures (some start with B and some do not) and added magnet tape to the back. Kids were asked to add the B pictures to the cave.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Last year at the PLA Conference in Indianapolis, I watched a group of librarians take part in the Marshmallow Challenge. It was so awesome that I knew that it could be a whole program at my library. Today was that day!

SuppliesTo run your own Marshmallow Challenge, you will need:

20 pieces of spaghetti per participant or team (2 oz. of spaghetti=60 pieces)

1 yard of string

1 yard of masking tape

1 marshmallow

My total cost for this program was $3 as I had string (well, yarn) and masking tape on hand.Registration & Set-upWe preregistered 20 7-12 year olds as that is what our Activity Room could hold. I made sure to roll up the carpet (because marshmallow does not easily come out of carpet!). Since we are low on staff this week, I prepped each set of supplies ahead of time. I put the marshmallows in at the last minute so that they didn't get stale.

I also measured out the masking tape right before the program and hung it off of our cabinets.

The ProgramAt the beginning of the program, I went over our rules:

The challenge lasts 18 minutes.

You can work together, but can only use 1 set of supplies.

The paper bag does not count as a supply.

The tallest freestanding structure at the end of 18 minutes is the winner.

I passed out the supplies and called out "GO!" as I started my stopwatch app on my phone. I called out various times with how much time was left. As the kids were having so much fun, some of the adults wanted to play too. I had a few extra kits so they started their own challenge.

Our tallest structure ended up being 29 inches. We talked about how all of the tall structures built had good bases to support the height. The kids even cleaned up afterwards!As parents left, they were raving about the program and planning their own Marshmallow Challenges. I gave them the idea that they could also build structures with mini marshmallows and spaghetti noodles and it was like a light bulb went off in their heads.

Flannel Friday

Storytime Underground

ALSC

About Me

I have been a youth services librarian for 10+ years in the Metro Detroit area. While I work with ages 0-12, my specialty is working with 2-3 year olds. For more info about me, check out the "About Me" tab across the top of the page. Ideas and opinions represented on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.